The Colorado family hoping to find fame by convincing a daytime television audience their six year old son had climbed aboard a balloon and sailed away found much more than sympathy. They found ridicule and shame and upcoming criminal charges for duping the authorities and the public .
I was alerted to the unfolding drama by a phone call from my friend, the ABC correspondent David Muir who asked if I was aware a little kid was stuck in a home made balloon at 7,000 feet and authorities were trying to figure out how to rescue him. David was assigned the story and we discussed how neither of us had ever heard of such a predicament in all our years of reporting.
Watching the coverage brought back fanciful memories of childhood when I wondered if a bunch of my helium-filled birthday balloons could ever be enough to lift me out of my backyard, only the thrill turned to discomfort every time I thought of drifting too high to jump. That must have been what the little boy was thinking. He had passed his opportunity to jump to safety before the balloon headed toward the sun. We wondered if he could survive.
The feature film “Where the Wild Things Are” stars a naughty boy who sails aboard a ship in the sky, Peter Pan takes pajama-clad children through the skies over London and Dorothy rides a tornado from bleak and dusty Kansas over the rainbow to Oz. Literature overflows with stories of children perilously flying off to fantasy lands where fancy clashes with the realities of emerging adulthood.
The imaginary passenger in the mylar space ship balloon over Colorado last week was really Richard Henne, the self-promoting patriarch of the family in the news. He and his wife met in acting school; it’s no wonder authorities fell for their story. Henne even supplied some crocodile tears. Who couldn’t just love a guy who cries for his little boy? You ought to give a guy like that his own TV show someday. The audience would love him.
It turns out everyone in the family had a part in the ruse but it proved too much for little Falcon who threw up twice in national TV interviews when asked why he was hiding in the attic. In an earlier interview on CNN Falcon kept the food down but spilled the beans by stating he was hiding in the attic “for the show”. Which proves how awful the Hennes are as parents. If you need to lie to get your own TV show, for goodness sake don’t implicate little children. They’re terrible at keeping secrets.
The Sheriff’s department in Colorado is consulting with the FBI in assembling the charges to be brought against the Hennes. For now, Richard Henne’s 15 minutes of fame are just getting underway with an open casting call for all the supporting players. It’s a new Reality TV show in which the leading man hires a bunch of lawyers to help keep him out of prison.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This story was beyond disturbing to me. My heart hurts for those kids. The parents make me sick, so it’s completely understandable that little Falcon literally did get sick. I had no idea they were on Wife Swap (don’t watch it, but am aware of it), until a friend mentioned that — *before* all of the untruths came out. The more they show of & speak of the “father,” the more unnerving I find the whole situation. It seems he has quite a temper, and is perhaps downright abusive at times. I’m not pleased with being duped, but that’s where the real charges should be brought – the (alleged) physical & (to me proved) emotional abuse. So sad.
In happier news, I read about a true story from back in the 1960s, I think, of a young boy at the time who actually was pulled up by a hot air balloon (his hand was tangled in a rope outside of the basket), and he lived to tell about it. But that was an absolutely true story. Wish I had the link for you, but I’m sure you could find it in a Google search.
Have a great day!
Yes pretty sad and selfish. Good that it backfired on him and hopefully these kids can lead a normal life some day!
On another note, David Muir is such a great success story and I love following him on ABC news. Of course with mentors like all of you at Channel 5 how could he not be great.
Denise
Hi Denise, I hope for a better future for the children too. As for David, I take 100 percent of the credit for his success at ABC. Thanks for writing. Maureen